College of Chemical Engineering originated from the Department of Chemical Engineering of National Central University and the University of Nanking. With a long history, it established the first-batch Chemical Engineering discipline in China. Academician Shi Jun, who advocated Chemical Engineering in China, founded the College of Chemical Engineering. The college has cultivated many outstanding talents in science, engineering and management represented by 18 academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering. The discipline of Chemical Engineering and Technology was listed in the First-Batch National First-Level Key Disciplines in 2007 and rated as “A” in the Fourth Round China Discipline Ranking (CDR) by the Ministry of Education. Listed in Jiangsu Province University Dominant Disciplines Construction Projects, Chemical Engineering and Technology contributes to the ranking of NTU’s Chemistry (top 1% in ESI Rankings) globally. The college owns 1 First-Level Discipline with the Qualification for Granting Doctoral Degree (i.e. Chemical Engineering and Technology), 1 National Characteristic Major (i.e. Chemical Engineering and Technology), 1 National Experiment Teaching Demonstration Center, 1 National Virtual Reality Experiment Teaching Project, 1 National Excellent Course (i.e. Principles of Chemical Engineering and Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics), and 1 First-Batch National First-Class Undergraduate Major Construction Site (i.e. Chemical Engineering and Technology), as well as National Key Laboratory of Materials Chemistry Engineering and National Engineering Technology Research Center of Special Separated Membrane.

The college possesses tremendous strength in the teaching team. It has “Materials Chemistry Engineering” National Huang Danian Teacher Teams in Colleges and Universities and “Chemical Engineering and Technology” National Excellent Teaching Team. 1 team is listed in the National Natural Science Foundation Innovation Research Groups, 2 in the Ministry of Education Innovation Team and 1 in the Ministry of Science and Technology Key Fields Innovation Team. Presently, there are 153 full-time teachers, including 1 academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, 7 winners of National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 4 Chief Scientists in the National “973” Program, 1 winner of the National Famous Teachers Award, 6 Leading Talents in Science and Technology, and 2 National Excellent Teachers. In particular, 95% of teachers hold doctoral degrees and 71% of them possess overseas background, with 70% of them under the age of 45. The college has forged a reasonably-structured and vigorous teaching team, in which academicians, distinguished young scholars and chief scientists in the National “973” Program play a leading role, young and middle-aged doctoral supervisors play a backbone role, and returned young doctors from overseas play a major role.

The college upholds the coalescence of Chemical Engineering with Chemistry, Materials Science, Biology and other disciplines and initiates & develops the discipline of Materials Chemistry and Engineering, which make significant contributions to the expansion of Chemical Engineering in China. It builds a high-level and multi-dimensional innovation platform, and forms a complete innovation chain from basic scientific research to general-purpose technological research and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. In the past five years, the college has undertaken 38 National Major Projects, like the National “973” Program, National “863” Program, National Key R & D Program and National Natural Science Foundation Major Project, as well as numerous projects funded by enterprises, with a cumulative scientific research fund of 450 million yuan. Basic research achievements in graphene membrane, fuel cell materials, molecular sieve carbon capture and other fields have been published in Nature and Science. More than 80 papers are published at three widely-acknowledged journals (i.e. AIChE J., Chem. Eng. Sci. and Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.), more than 70 paper are published at journals with high impact factor like J. Am. Chem. Soc and Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., and some achievements are reported by Chem& Eng News. The college has obtained more than 300 licensed inventions & patents and 10 PCT applications and 11 national and provincial & ministerial awards for scientific and technological achievements, and incubated more than 20 high-tech enterprises in the fields of Membrane Materials and Green Chemical Engineering. Particularly, Nantong Wangzi Pulp & Paper Integrated Wastewater Zero Discharge Project has been highly praised by General Secretary Xi Jinping.

The college has formed a characteristic talent training system on Chemical Engineering based on the combination of “Course Chain, Talent Chain and Industrial Chain”. The scale of undergraduate training ranks the top in China, and the quality of graduate innovative talent training significantly improves. It owns 1 National Characteristic Major, 1 National Excellent Teaching Team, 1 National Experiment Teaching Demonstration Center, 2 National Engineering Practice Education Centers and 1 National College Students Practice and Teaching Base. It has won 3-time First Prize and Second Prize of National Teaching Achievements Award and 2-time Special Prize of Jiangsu Province Teaching Achievements Award. Listed in the First-Batch Pilot Sites of “Excellent Engineer Education Training Plan” of the Ministry of Education, the college has 1 dissertation listed in the National 100 Excellent Dissertations and 2 papers listed in the National 100 Most Influential International Academic Papers. Among the graduates, more than 10 become professors at well-known universities like the University of Washington, and more than 20 undertake senior posts in large corporations like Sinopec, which provide powerful talent support for international and regional economic and social development.

The college actively builds an innovative and inclusive cooperation system and vigorously develops a regional collaborative innovation platform. It signs cooperation agreements with local governments (e.g. Nanjing, Suzhou, Changshu and Zhangjiagang) and science and technology parks on jointly building technological research institutes or industrial colleges to promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. It collaborates with large corporations like Sinopec, Zhongdan Group, Chambroad Petrochemical and Hengyi Group on building R & D centers and establishing long-term cooperation mechanisms to boost local economic and social development. It widely cooperates with renowned experts and scholars from the United States, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Australia, including the Nobel Prize winners and American academicians, in organizing international cooperation & research and professor & student exchanging visits. Teachers of College of Chemical Engineering have planned or organized and presided over many international conferences, for example, ICOM 2014 in the field of membrane and membrane process, and SCPPE 2016 in the field of sustainable chemical product engineering and process engineering. Several teachers participate in the planning of National Scientific and Technological Development Strategy and provide advisory support for national decision-making on science and technology.

The college highlights the integration and promotion of Party Building work and academic work, and gives play to the exemplary and leading role of Party Building work. CPC NTU College of Chemical Engineering Committee and its Teaching Staff Fifth Branch are successively rated as the First-Batch Party Building Work “Model Schools & Departments” Cultivation and Construction Unit, the First-Batch National College and University “Party Building Work and Academic Work Leaders” Teachers CPC Branch Cultivation and Construction Unit, the First-Batch Jiangsu Province First-Level CPC Branch Secretary Work Demonstration Unit and Jiangsu Province Advanced Grass-Roots CPC Organization.

(Updated in March 2021)